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Title: The Girl They Underestimated: Inside the Maverick Mind of Jessica Shipman

Description:

She was called "a bit thick." She was labelled an "attention seeker." She was "that girl" in the boardroom. Jessica Shipman was underestimated at every turn, and she refused to shrink.

From peeling potatoes in a pub kitchen at 13 to chairing the NatWest Cymru Board, Jessica's story isn't about a valleys girl learning to become corporate. It's about what the corporate world gains when she refuses to become smaller.

In this conversation, Jessica opens up about:

• Growing up neurodiverse in a world that didn't understand her
• Building a jewellery business at 15 and buying gold in the science lab
• The disastrous haircut that changed her career path
• Being called "that girl" in a client meeting and what it taught her
• Leading £10 billion of funding supporting Wales
• Why she asks "what else?" in every deal
• Raising neurodiverse children and fighting for acceptance
• Living with an entrepreneur and why they don't work together

She didn't climb the ladder and pull it up. She turned around and made it wider.

Chapters:

00:00 The girl in the green car

01:40 "She's a bit thick"

04:48 The signature red lipstick

07:28 The pub kitchen and peeling potatoes

09:12 Buying gold in the science lab

11:47 Building a jewellery business at 15

13:06 The factory that could have been her prison

16:00 University vs the burger van

17:16 The disastrous haircut

19:49 Running the salon from the reception desk

20:53 Miss Wales and learning to pitch

22:07 "That girl" in the boardroom

26:09 The woman who introduced the smallest version of herself

28:09 Confidence is overused. It's about control.

30:49 The leaked banking paper

32:44 Teaching inclusion

34:19 Neurodiversity and the accelerator program

36:26 The bank isn't a box. It's an enabler.

38:52 "What else?" and the multimillion pound deal

41:10 Rebuilding a team from bottom to top

43:06 750,000 customers and counting

44:23 The Wales Air Ambulance

45:32 Meeting Johnny

48:05 Maverick Maxims

59:15 What the little girl in the green car would think now

Subscribe for more conversations with the people who refuse to fit in the box.

#JessicaShipman #NatWestCymru #WomenInLeadership #Neurodiversity #MaverickMind #WalesBusiness #Podcast